The End

I have decided that I do not have the time or passion necessary to keep up this blog. Thank you so much for reading and growing with me the past few months. I think this was a great experiment and I learned so much from all of you.

I will of course keep up with Captive Thoughts . It is more of a journal of my thoughts and experiences. I hope you'll visit from time to time.

Bye!

Break Time

Hey, everyone. I'm taking another blog break. I'm going to try to focus on story writing for awhile. I'll be back in a few days or a couple weeks - whenever I'm ready with some new ideas to share!

Thanks as always for reading and responding.

Epiphanies

No, I'm not reading the Apocrypha. Not that reading the Apocrypha is a bad idea. I've read some of it. It's interesting.

And I want you to know I spelled it right on the first try.

My epiphany is a little more personal in nature. I've made a discovery about myself in relationship to this blog.

I am not a blogger.

So why, you might ask, am I blogging? Well, I am a writer. There's not any doubt in my mind that I was born to be a wife and mommy, and to write. But my true and everlasting love is fiction, and I only feel natural when I am writing fiction.

The bad thing about fiction is that it has fallen out of favor with the general public. Who wants to go to all the trouble to read a novel when you can go into a trance in front of the 57 inch flat screen?

Uh... me.

But I concede I am not among the majority. And for a writer who has not sold any fiction yet... in today's market, I'm a long shot.

So my job is to figure out what in the world I am going to do with my dream. I have an idea, but it's scary. I've created a website called "The Writer's Block" where writers and readers can come together. I'm hoping there will be some interest and other aspiring authors will submit their work and we will get readers that are interested in free fiction and nonfiction.

It's a long shot.

But you can check it out. So far it's me and my sis. I can always count on her to jump on board any idea I have. We look a little lonely on the members page. Part of the problem is that I can't figure out how to create a "join here" button where folks can easily become members. If anyone has any ideas I'd really appreciate the input. You can find the site here .

And I will get up and do a happy dance if that link worked on the first try.

Linkin' Up to Love

A breakthrough! I think I may have actually figured out how to post links. Everybody applaud for me. Or laugh at my complete lack of technical ability. No, really, I want you to laugh at me. I'm learning humility.

28 Days Of Love

My blogger friend Katie started a linky party to learn about putting love into practice. Check it out, link yourself up and join the party. You know you want to.

Here's the short version - read 1 Corinthians 13. Then prepare to do the following for the next 7 days:

Week 1

Day 1: Meet a Need. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to someone's need you can meet today. When the need presents itself, act. Meet the need without expecting anything in return. Thank the Lord for using you to bless someone else.

Day 2: Don't react. When wronged, offended, or slighted today, resolve by the Spirit's power to allow Him to produce a "longsuffering" spirit in you that doesn't react or strike back. Let it go. Overcome evil with good.

Day 3: Give something away. Loving always involves giving. Bless someone by giving them something of value-some money, an item, some time, your attention (just don't give them a piece of your mind) "Its is more blessed to give than to receive."

Day 4: Pray for an enemy. Instead of stirring up your anger by replaying that person's wrong against you, pray for him or her. Ask God for the grace to love your enemies by praying His blessings upon them.

Day 5: Write a note. Let someone know how much you value their friendship or appreciate their contribution by writing, texting, or emailing a note. Make the effort to communicate what is in your heart. Take some time and write more than a sentence or two.

Day 6: Spread some joy today. Do a random act of kindness for an unsuspecting person.

Day 7: Initiate something. Take a small risk. Go out of your way to talk with someone you don't really know. Engage them in a conversation about something that interests them. Show genuine interest, learn what you can about them, and review it later in your mind.

So get busy and start loving!

A special thanks to MacGyver who figured out how to add links after I discovered that my link was still not appearing. Engineers. Gotta love them.

New Year's Resolutions

Someone told me that January 5 is the most stressful day of the year.

So be REALLY REALLY impressed that I'm writing today. Because I don't feel it. I feel exhausted. I'm ready to hibernate from life for awhile. I've had about all the teaching/diaper changing/cooking and cleaning/moderating ridiculous arguments that I can take for 2011. That's right, I've reached the quota. Do you hear me MacGyver, Eldest, Secondborn, Not-so-toddler and Baby J? I've had ENOUGH.

Deep breath. Slow exhale.

I wrote in my journal last night before I fell asleep. I said "Why is it so easy for me to park myself in neutral and let life push me along?"

When things get stressful, I go limp. I just do what I have to do to survive and turn my brain off. I like to call it hypersensitivity, overstimulation, anything that makes me sound like a victim.

Truth is, it's just plain old laziness.

So I have one single resolution for 2011. I shall endeavor to do, act, feel, think, write, and any other verb that applies in any situation in which my normal response is to ride out the wave and do nothing. Even if it annoys me. Even if it exhausts me.

I've gotten off to a good start. In two days I have exercised for 3 hours. I have watched what I am eating even though detoxing from the holidays is no easy process. There is no doubt I've room to do better. But the point of this year shall be to do a little better than before.

What about you? Resolutions? Plans for the new year?